My Story

Hi to any kind person who will read this. This is my first post after reading on here for months. I've known about my impulsive gambling problem for months and during the day whilst out and busy, I'm determined to stop. However, as soon as I'm home from work, it takes over and I can't help deposit on gaming sites thinking I'm going to get lucky when in fact, all I usually do is lose hundreds or recoup my losses if I'm lucky! My monthly disposable income is roughly £200 which needs to include petrol for my 70 mile round trip to work. The rest of my wage is paying minimum payments on debts. So I'm in over my head and I know it, but I still can't help myself.. which is why I'm here for any advice/success stories which will guide me out of this. I have a young daughter too who is my world, but I hate myself more knowing that I could have more time with her and money to spend on her if I didn't 'need' to gamble. Self loathing drives me to gamble more so it's a viscous circle. I started gambling whilst on maternity leave just to pass the time whilst my daughter was sleeping, it's now become a necessity. Any guidance would really help me in my journey to deal with this nightmare. Thank you x

As you have read the site I'm sure you are aware that barriers like self-exclusion, blocking software or handing over finances are always a good place to start.

As you seem to be in the habit of gambling after work it might be worth trying to find a club/activity/hobby to occupy your downtime. Keeping busy is important.

There is quite a lot going on here at the good ship GamCare. The chatroom (open today 7pm-8pm/9pm-10pm), you could start a diary, join one of the challenge threads and GamCare offer free counselling that might help you better understand why you gamble.

Take the help available, get involved and you won't be short of support here.

I have recently stopped gambling altogether after a few months of compulsive crazy ludicrous large stake betting, Mainly online on football. My mum gave me a cash lump of 10k after selling her home. I never thought I would need to dip into this, how wrong I was. I started with £100, losing, another £100, losing , £200 losing. £500. On and on till I was down to £3000 that my lovely mum had given me for our future. I got a loan out for £7500 to put it back, it was good for a few weeks but then the disease took control again. Same story as previous, £100, £200, £500, £1000 at a time. Went back down to £1000 in savings so had to take another loan of £6000 to put back. My fiancée had a suspicion of this and finally found out, confronted me and I was relieved that she found out because I knew I was doing something terrible, our future plans included getting married abroad, now that has hit the buffers. Now guys I need help in the relationship, I've destroyed it, the one person I can't afford to lose, I have caused her so much pain I very much regret, she is a really nice person inside and out and she doesn't deserve this. she says she will try and support me but can't get over the thought of losing all that money. I can get my head around losing the money, but not the fact that I could lose my true love.

I have self excluded from all gambling sites, and feel no urge to gamble again.

You've done the right thing posting on here and asking for help. It's also good that you've taken the step to self exclude. Perhaps you might also consider putting blocking software on your computer, phone or tablet. There is also free counselling to help you get your gambling under control, and Gamblers Anonymous offer support with other recovering gamblers.

You are rightly worried about your girlfriend and your relationship. Perhaps point her to this site and to our helpline or netline - the details are at the top of this page. We can help you both through this.

Finally, I see you've posted the same post on a few different people's threads. It can be difficult getting familiar with the different sections of the forum. You would probably get more responses if you start your own thread. Go to New Member Introductions, scroll to the bottom, and you should see a button marked 'Start New Topic'.